Aston Villa v Manchester United: Premier League – live
Updates from 2pm BST kick-off at Villa ParkLive scoreboard | Email Daniel with your thoughts
As below, the big news for United is the omission of Martínez and De Ligt. The idea, though, that they’ve not been dropped, is hard to believe given how poorly both are playing – and a question that might be asked is whether the rashness of the latter is exacerbating the faults of the former. Either way, though, Ten Hag has swapped two young(ish) centre-backs with no pace for two older centre-backs with no pace, against a team with loads of it and, let’s be real, the selection smacks of a manager hoping to force a one-off result and hang in there, rather than build for the future as per his brief.
Ten Hag tells Sky that he’s rotating, hence the defensive changes, saying it’s nothing to do with external pressure. He believes his players are ready for the game, and everyone in the club is calm and composed; they just have to improve their process.
